Big Eyes

From the whimsical mind of director , BIG EYES tells the outrageous of one of the most epic art frauds in history. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, painter had reached success beyond belief, revolutionizing the commercialization of popular art with his enigmatic paintings of waifs with big eyes. The bizarre and shocking truth would eventually be discovered though: Walter’s works were actually not created by him at all, but by his wife Margaret.

Margaret Keane makes a cameo appearance in the film in a scene filmed in San Francisco at the Palace of the Arts.

makes a cameo appearance in the film in a scene filmed in at the Palace of the Arts.

In 2003, writing partners Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski learned the stranger than fiction story of Margaret and Walter Keane, the top selling painters of the 1960s. Intrigued, they began to research a story that would take ten years to finally go into production. “It’s a great piece of history that nobody knows,” says Alexander. “If it weren’t true, I wouldn’t believe it.

The writers spent weeks at libraries and pouring through San Francisco newspaper stories in microfiche archives, trying to piece together the sensational tale of the Keanes. “It was hard to get a straight story,” says Alexander, and they set out to meet with Margaret. “We needed to be able to earn her trust and show that we had integrity.” Margaret Keane agreed to sell Alexander and Karaszewski the rights to her life as well as her art.

A passion project for Producer Lynette Howell she worked closely with the writers for five years. “It went through many stops and starts and , as lots of independent movies do,” she says. “And there’s always that surprise when suddenly a director like Tim Burton says I actually want to direct that movie.” Four-time Academy Award-nominee Amy Adams had read the BIG EYES screenplay early on, but she wasn’t prepared to do it at first. However, when she next saw the script, things had changed. The actress and the artist spent half a day together.

While Amy Adams did extensive research, met Margaret Keane and wanted to get to know the real life person she was portraying, Christoph Waltz had a different approach and relied strictly on the script. He says, “I stayed away from everything that might resemble real life in reference to Margaret and Walter and this whole thing because what am I supposed to do with it? I’m not making a , I’m playing a part and I think drama has a different purpose in our lives and our society.

In the summer of 2013, BIG EYES filmed on location in Vancouver, Canada, as well as San Francisco and Hawaii, where the film is set. Vancouver locations included historic Stanley Park and the Gastown district. The hungry i was recreated at the Penthouse Nightclub. The courtroom scenes were filmed at the Art Gallery of Vancouver. The Keanes’ magnificently “modern” Woodside home was created in a house in the Southlands neighborhood. In Hawaii, locations included the Honolulu Federal Court House and the landmark Royal Hawaiian Hotel in Waikiki.

The producers worked with Margaret Keane and her gallery to get copies of her art and permission to reprint. As films are not always shot in chronological sequence, some paintings in the film required as many as 10 versions to depict the work in its various stages of completion.

MoreMovieDetails

All Posts
0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Share this article: Big Eyes

Facebook
LinkedIn
WhatsApp
Pinterest
Email

MORE TOPICS

Rise of the Planet of the Apes is set in present day San Francisco, where man's own experiments with genetic engineering lead to the development of intelligence in apes and the onset of a war for supremacy.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Rise of the Planet of the Apes is an American science fiction film. The film is to be directed by Rupert Wyatt. This will be a new film in the Planet of the Apes series. James Franco is set to play a scientist working on a cure for Alzheimer’s by testing on apes.

Fright Night

Fright Nightis a 3D horror film directed by Craig Gillespie. The film is a remake of the 1985 Tom Holland cult classic of the same name that starred Chris Sarandon and Roddy McDowell and is about a teenager who is convinced his neighbor is a vampire. The cast includes Anton Yelchin, Colin Farrell, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, David Tennant, Imogen Poots and Toni Collette.

PEOPLE PLACES THINGS represents everything I know, think and feel about being a parent, a writer and a person. It is the most personal story I have ever told. It is also probably the funniest. -- writer / director Jim Strouse

People Places Things

A heartfelt comedy that finds a newly single graphic novelist navigating life, raising his young twin daughters, inspiring a classroom full of students, and discovering new love while letting go of the woman who left him.

The Smurfs 2

In this sequel to the family blockbuster comedy The Smurfs, the evil wizard Gargamel creates a couple of mischievous Smurf-like creatures called the Naughties that he hopes will let him harness the all-powerful, magical Smurf-essence.

The Muppets

The Muppets is a comedy film from Walt Disney Pictures directed by James Bobin. The script was written by Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller, the writer-director team behind the 2008 film Forgetting Sarah Marshall. James Bobin is directing the film and Bret McKenzie has written the film’s songs. It is the seventh theatrically released feature film to star The Muppets.

The Impossible

Based on a true story, The Impossible is the unforgettable account of a family caught, with tens of thousands of strangers, in the mayhem of one of the worst natural catastrophes of our time. But the true-life terror is tempered by the unexpected displays of compassion, courage and simple kindness that Maria and her family encounter during the darkest hours of their lives